Killing Your Younger Self

"Heh, this one won't survive either."

Kalpas's words made Sakura rub her forehead helplessly.

"Cecilia is so gentle. Miss Fairy really wants to get to know her."

Yaqing could see Elysia wink at him, but he could only pretend not to notice.

"Elysia, do you want to get to know her? I'm almost embarrassed to point it out." Mobius immediately exposed her.

"Professor Mobius, what are you talking about? Elysia has no idea."

Faced with Elysia acting cute, Mobius gave her plenty of face.

"Blech!"

Ziegfried hugged Cecilia. "Honey, I'll love you forever."

Ziegfried didn't dare imagine what he would choose if he ever faced such a difficult dilemma.

Feeling Ziegfried's vulnerability, Cecilia stroked his hair.

"Ew, stinky Dad, you're such a grown-up and you're still acting spoiled?" Sirin shivered.

Ziegfried grabbed Sirin in a hug. His coarse stubble made her incredibly uncomfortable. Pushing his face away, she shouted, "Get away! Your stubble is poking me, stinky Dad!!! Bella, save me!"

"Let go of Queen!" Bella saved Sirin with a super headbutt.

Sirin patted Bella's head. "Good job, Bella!"

"Mom..." Kiana murmured. Then she scooted over to Mei's side and copied the line verbatim. "Mei, no matter what happens in the future, I'll face it with you. Love, Kiana!"

Mei blushed. "Kiana, don't talk nonsense."

Seeing Kiana and Raiden Mei interacting, Bronya's lips curled upward.

Theresa felt the phone in her pocket constantly vibrating. Curious, she took it out and saw that the Fate Headquarters group chat was filled with the exact same message.

Cheng Lixue: "I'll always love Cecilia!"

Salome: "I'll always love Cecilia!"

Patrick: "I'll always love Cecilia!"

Shub: "I'll always love Cecilia!"

Shigure Kira: "I'll always love Cecilia!"

Rita: "I'll always love Cecilia!"

Bianka: "I'll always love Mom!"

Susannah: "I'll always love Cecilia!"

Someone seemed to have slipped in a strange form of address. Before Theresa had time to think, she hurriedly sent one too.

Theresa: "I'll always love Cecilia!!!!!!"

Killing Your Younger Self

Ten minutes before Ahalato's launch, Ziegfried and Welt entered the control ship. As Dr. Einstein counted down, the rocket launched.

During the forty-eight hours to the moon, Welt and Ziegfried talked about many things, from embarrassing childhood runaway stories to their youthful hobbies, and finally their dreams for the future. By mutual understanding, neither mentioned which of the two plans Ziegfried had chosen...

After Ahalato arrived at the lunar surface, Ziegfried, who was preparing to put on a spacesuit, stared dumbfoundedly at Welt as he simply walked out of the control ship. Herrschers didn't need spacesuits at all.

Welt, stepping onto the moon for the first time, quickly adapted to gravity one-sixth that of Earth's. He looked at Benares, the pseudo-Herrscher of Thunder hovering in midair before him.

There was no air on the moon, so sound could not travel. Yet Benares's voice sounded in Welt's mind.

Benares had been sent by Sirin to guide Welt. Welt didn't know what tricks the Second Herrscher was up to, but he still followed Benares toward the center of the lunar ruins.

After seeing Welt and Benares leave through Ahalato's window, Ziegfried quickly put on his spacesuit. Recalling the operation plan Einstein had told him before launch, he hurried into action.

"Herrschers really are amazing~," Elysia said.

"Herrschers can survive in a vacuum, so how do their bodies differ from normal humans? What makes it possible for them not to breathe? If it's at the genetic level, does that count as another form of evolution..." Mei's questions poured forth like a gushing spring.

"Huh?" Yaqing was dumbfounded.

Who knew? He had merely dreamed a grand dream and silently stitched those dreams together into a script. Now they wanted him to explain the imaginary things in his own script?

Kevin rubbed his forehead. "Alright, Mei, it's just a movie."

"Ah, right..."

"Just talking about Herrscher powers, they really are cool!" Kevin sounded a little envious, then asked Su in the row behind him, "Su, if I became a Herrscher, what kind of power do you think I'd have?"

Before Su could reply, Ling raised her little hand. "I know, I know! Big Brother Kevin would definitely be the Herrscher of Instant Noodles!"

"Pfft."

A wave of stifled laughter rose through the theater. Sakura's pretty face turned red as she held it in. "Kevin, children say the darndest things, don't... pfft."

Sakura's words were like a fuse tossed into a powder keg. In an instant, the theater erupted in laughter, and Kevin looked around in confusion. Even the girlfriend in his arms was laughing.

Who am I?

Where am I?

"I think Ling is right," Su added at just the right moment.

"That's right. There's an old saying: children never lie," Yaqing said solemnly.

"What old saying?" Elysia perfectly played along.

"My grandma said it."

Yaqing and Su behind him high-fived in perfect sync.

"I'll fight you all." Faced with his terrible friends' teasing, Kevin went after Yaqing beside him first.

When Welt arrived at the center of the lunar ruins, he saw Sirin sitting on the seat once occupied by "God." With one leg crossed over the other, Sirin looked down at Welt arrogantly.

"You're finally here, First Herrscher."

Sirin stood up. She was furious at his lack of ambition. As an apostle of God like herself, he had actually chosen to trade his own life for the lives of insects. She freely displayed the power she had gained from "God," three pairs of glowing blue-purple wings spreading behind her.

"If you're willing to obey me, I can consider sparing your life."

"All you need to do is kneel and swear allegiance to me."

Hearing Sirin's words, Welt smiled disdainfully. He had no interest in her mercy, nor did he think much of the power supposedly bestowed by God. He told Sirin that he had long since prepared a plan for victory.

"Let me teach you about humanity's wisdom."

"This Welt is so annoying!" Sirin scratched her head, messing up her purple hair as she puffed out her cheeks. "All he talks about is humans, like I'm not human too."

"But Sirin, in the story, you really aren't human anymore. You're a Herrscher..." Bella spoke weakly, completely unaware that she wasn't even human in the story.

Sirin tugged at Bella's round little cheeks in annoyance. "Bella, whose side are you on?"

"Mmph, I'm on Queen's side," Bella said indistinctly.

Sirin snapped her fingers and floated into the air. Three Spears of the Void hovered behind her as she watched Welt floating opposite her. Her probing attacks were easily evaded by him.

"Attacks that slow won't hit anyone." The Heart of Eden in Welt's hand crackled, black-red lightning-like energy swirling around him.

With Welt's simple provocation, Sirin's inflated ego once again seized the high ground over her intelligence. Whether it was a trap or not, she directly ordered Benares to chase him.

As three meteors—red, purple, and blue—streaked across the stars, Ziegfried seized the opportunity to slip into the center of the lunar ruins and began collecting Honkai Steel. Although Welt had said he would buy him thirty minutes, Ziegfried seriously doubted whether Welt could really hold Sirin off for that long.

After being led around by the nose for so long, Bella sensed that something was wrong and told Sirin. But Sirin had already noticed and didn't care. The familiar giant white hand appeared again, grabbed Welt, and delivered him before her.

Welt, caught in its grip, remained calm. He immediately unleashed his strongest move: Star of Eden: Zeroth Rated Power: Pseudo Black Hole. But against Sirin, who possessed five cores, the pseudo black hole could no longer harm her as it had last time.

As a fellow Herrscher, Sirin could tell that Welt's power was not even half of what it had been before, so she wasn't surprised when Welt fled.

"Why does Sirin feel like a pufferfish? The moment she has even the slightest chance of winning, she swells up." Kiana complained. "Though that's pretty much the same as how she is in real life."

Kiana remembered how every time Sirin tried to prank Uncle Yaqing, she ended up getting herself instead. Yet it never stopped her from trying again. Once she got cocky, she would lose everything.

"She absorbed so much knowledge from the Previous Era, yet still fell for such a crude lure-the-tiger-away-from-the-mountain scheme. I really don't know whether Sirin is too... or whether the plot simply requires it," Bronya said.

Welt risked his life to keep Sirin occupied and buy time for Ziegfried. Ziegfried did not betray Welt's expectations either. After collecting the Honkai Steel, he returned to Ahalato.

Only then did the audience learn from Welt and Ziegfried's earlier conversation that Plan B meant Ziegfried abandoning Welt and leaving the moon alone. The Previous Era's technology and Honkai Steel were more important than one Welt.

"The fate of this world depends on your decision, Ziegfried. To you, which matters more: humanity's survival, or one person's life...?"

That was what Welt had said. The unsolvable trolley problem now stood before Ziegfried. Should he pilot Ahalato to support Welt, risking both of them dying on the moon, or flee alone and secure a chance for human civilization?

Ziegfried stood up. Before him stood his younger self—or perhaps his inner demon.

"The Honkai Steel has already been collected. Let's go support Welt."

Ziegfried said nothing.

"What are you still hesitating for? He has no chance alone. We can only force our way through."

Ziegfried said nothing.

"Hey, are you really going to listen to him and leave him there to die?"

Ziegfried still said nothing. He even brushed aside the hand his younger self reached toward him.

His past self angrily grabbed Ziegfried by the collar.

"Have you forgotten your own surname?! You're a Kaslana! A true Kaslana would never stand by and watch someone die! Have you forgotten the oath you made?!"

"You said you were willing to sacrifice anything for humanity, didn't you?!"

Ziegfried grabbed his younger self's hand. Those passionate eyes looked at him, making him unable to meet their gaze. Yet the eyes that had once burned with passion were now utterly weathered.

"If sacrificing my life could save all humanity, I wouldn't hesitate for a moment. Neither would Welt."

"Welt and I made this choice precisely to save humanity. And what I sacrificed... was more precious than life itself."

Ziegfried released his hand and walked past the phantom of his younger self. In that instant, his back seemed to bend slightly. "I sacrificed you."

The phantom burst like a bubble, symbolizing that Ziegfried had completely killed his younger self.

The choice between one person and tens of millions.

The choice between one person and hundreds of billions of lives.

Ziegfried made his choice. That was his answer.

Ahalato launched. Sirin seemed able to sense something on the moon rapidly moving away. Realizing she had been tricked, she furiously crushed the Star of Eden. Welt, deprived of gravity, slammed violently into the lunar surface.

Battered and disheveled, Welt watched Ahalato leave the moon and smiled. He knew Ziegfried had made his choice.

"Well done, Ziegfried."

For a moment, everyone watching the movie fell silent. They asked themselves whether, in that situation, they could have made a better choice than Ziegfried.

"Kevin, what would you choose?" Mei asked.

"I..." Kevin didn't know how to choose. Emotionally, he wanted to save Mei, but reason told him that civilization's continued existence was more important. Kevin couldn't imagine how agonizing it would be if he truly had to make that decision.

"What about Yaqing?"

"Me?" Yaqing thought about it too. If it were him, what would he choose? After pondering for a while, he said, "It depends on the person. If it were someone especially important, I think I'd choose the former."

"Then what counts as someone important?" A sly glint flashed through Mei's eyes.

Everyone became curious, especially one particular person whose ears had perked up.

"Of course..."

Yaqing's pause thoroughly whetted everyone's curiosity.

"Cecilia."

"Tch!"